Hatch cover operating means



July 27, 1965 A. V. ROSENDAHL HATCH COVER OPERATING MEANS Filed Aug. 15. 1962 United States Patent 3,197,193 HATCH COVER OPERATING MEANS Arvid Viktor Rosendahl, Skanninge, Sweden, assignor to Konstruktioner & Experiment A.E., Skanninge, Sweden Filed Aug. 15, 1962, Ser. No. 217,156 Claims priority, application Sweden, Aug. 21, 1961, 8,387 61 Claims. (Cl. 268-75) It is known to open and close ships hatches by providing piston servomotors which rest by one end on the deck of the vessel and by the other end operate a hatch at a distance from the point Where the latter is articulated to the deck. This arrangements suffers from the drawback that the deck is exposed to very considerable local loads, often of the order of 50100 tons, which creates difiicult problems in respect of strength.

It has been proposed to provide two piston servomotors in the case of sectional hatches, one end of each of them operating a hatch at a distance from the articulations of the hatch sections to one another, while at their other end each is pivotally fastened to one arm of an angle lever which is freely rockable about the said articulation. By this means heavy local loads on the deck are avoided. This arrangement however can be used only for folding hatches having an even number of sections.

The present invention relates to an arrangement for the hydraulic operation of ships hatches by means of piston servomotors, which can be used even for single folding hatches without subjecting the deck to heavy local loads from the servomotors beyond the weight of the hatches themselves.

The arrangement according to the invention consists of piston servomotors which are so disposed as to operate by one end a hatch mounted pivotably about an axis parallel to the deck, acting thereon at a distance from the said axis, and is characterised in that the other end of the servomotor is pivotally fastened to a hinge pin which is parallel to the said axis and which is mounted on the free end of an arm which by its other end is held fast in a parallel-sided block which in a manner known per se is mounted to be non-rotatable but vertically slidable between vertical guide bars secured to the deck, the said parallel-sided block carrying the hatch spindle so that the deck is not subjected to any local load from the servomotor beyond the weight of the hatch transmitted through the parallel-sided block or blocks.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a form of construction of an arrangement according to the invention, viewed from the side,

FIGURE 2 shows a detail of the articulation in section, and

FIGURE 3 shows the parallel-sided block and its guide bars viewed in the direction of the hatch spindle.

A ships hatch 1 is pivotally mounted on a spindle 2 which is non-rotatably fastened in parallel-sided blocks 3 which are mounted to be non-rotatable but vertically slidable between vertical guidebars 5 fastened to the deck 4. The spindle 2 is provided with a non-rotatable projecting arm 6 which is advantageously directed obliquely downwards.

At the lower end of arm 6 there is secured a pivot pin 8 parallel to and spaced from said spindle. A hydraulic piston and cylinder servomotor 7 is pivoted on this pin 8 by its piston rod, and its other end, i.e. the cylinder, is pivotally secured to hatch cover 1 at a point spaced from spindle 2.

It is customary to provide a sealing gasket between the hatch cover and the hatch coaming. In the known pivoted hatch covers it may happen that the surfaces of the portions of the hatch coaming and cover between which the gasket is place are not parallel to each other when the hatch is closed, or that the gasket is too thick to permit the hatch cover to swing down to its proper position parallel with the hatch coaming. In the present invention, however, as the hatch cover 1 descends, pivoting on pivot 2, the parallel-sided block will be at the lowest point of the slot in which it can slide vertically. When the hatch cover 1 descends far enough so that the hatch cover 1 contacts the nearest edge of the hatch coaming, the hatch cover will not be prevented from continuing to swing downwardly until the hatch cover is in perfect face-to-face parallelism since, instead of the hatch cover being supported with its edge remote from pivot 2 by the lever action between pivot 2 and the adjacent hatch coaming, the pivot 2 will merely be raised as the hatch cover continues to descend.

This floating pivot 2 may be inexpensively installed, as it is not necessary that the pivot 2 be accurately located with respect to the plane of the top of the hatch coaming as a fixed pivot would need to be and, also,

with the floating pivot 2 the thickness of the gasket material becomes immaterial, as the spacing between the coaming and cover adjusts itself according to the thickness of the gasket material.

Although only one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, other embodiments are possible within the framework of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Operating means for a movable cover member of a hatchway or the like in a deck of a ship, including: a spindle member mounted in non-rotatable and vertically slidable manner to one side of and beyond the area of said opening, said cover member being pivoted on said spindle for pivoting between a closed position in which it closes said opening and an open position in which it is tilted away from said opening; an arm member fixedly secured to said non-rotatable spindle member and extending at an angle to said closed position of said cover member; and an extensible member having a first end pivotally coupled to said arm member and having its other end pivotally coupled to said cover member at points spaced from said spindle whereby, upon extending said extensible member, said cover will be raised.

2. Operating means for a movable top cover of a horizontal opening, including: vertical guide means fixedly mounted beyond the area of said opening; a slide member mounted in said guide means to be vertically slidable and nonrotatable therein; a horizontal spindle member fast with said slide member, said cover member being pivotally mounted on said spindle member for pivoting between a closed horizontal position in which it closes said opening and a vertical open position in which it is raised from said opening; an arm member fast with said spindle member and depending therefrom; and jacking means having a first end pivotally connected to said cover member and a second end pivotally connected to said arm member, at points spaced from said spindle member.

3. Operating means for opening and closing a hatch cover of a hatchway in a ships deck, including: a horizontal spindle, said hatch cover being freely rotatable on said spindle; an arm fast with said spindle and depending obliquely therefrom in a direction towards said hatchway, said arm having a lower end disposed at a level below said spindle and between said spindle and said hatchway; a pivot pin secured on said lower end, said pin being parallel to said spindle; an extensible jacking device pivoted at one end on said pivot pin and pivotally connected at its other end to said hatch cover, said other end being spaced from said spindle, and at least one parallel-sided slide member fast with said spindle; for each slide member a guide member fixed outside said hatchway, said guide member having parallel vertical guide surfaces slidably engaging the parallel sides of said slide member for guiding the latter for vertical movement while preventing rotation of the same whereby, when said hatch cover is in closed position, said spindle adjusts itself vertically so that the hatch cover seats face to face on said hatchway without stress on said spindle.

4. Operating means according to claim 3, wherein said jacking device is a hydraulic piston and cylinder servomotor.

5. In a ship having a deck provided with a hatchway surrounded by a coaming and with a hatch cover, operating means for said hatch covers comprising: at least one horizontal spindle disposed outside said coaming, said hatch cover being rotatable on said spindle; a lever arm fast with said spindle and depending therefrom obliquely towards said hatchway; a pivot pin on said arm, said pin being spaced from and parallel to said spindle; an

extensible hydraulically operated piston and cylinder servomotor having one end mounted on said pin and its other end pivotally connected to said cover at a point spaced from said spindle; a slide block having parallel vertical sides in planes transverse to said spindle; secured to each end of said spindle parallel vertical guides for each said slide block fast with said deck and engaging said sides of said slide blocks, said slide blocks being vertically slidable and non-rotatable in said guides, where- 10 by said hatch cover will be pivotally secured for opening and closing on a floating spindle to accommodate variations of gasket thickness.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,640,454 6/53 Kummerman 268-18 3,090,429 5/63 Kummerman 160188 20 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Prin'zary Examiner. 

1. OPERATING MEANS FOR A MOVABLE COVER MEMBER OF A HATCHWAY OR THE LIKE IN A DECK OF A SHIP, INCLUDING: A SPINDLE MEMBER MOUNTED IN NON-ROTATABLE AN VERTICALLY SLIDABLE MANNER TO ONE SIDE OF AND BEYOND THE AREA OF SAID OPENING, SAID COVER MEMBER BEING PIVOTED ON SAID SPINDLE FOR PIVOTING BETWEEN A CLOSED POSITION IN WHICH IT CLOSES SAID OPENING AND AN OPEN POSITION IN WHICH IT IS TILTED AWAY FROM SAID OPENING; AN ARM MEMBER FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAID NON-ROTATABLE SPINDLE MEMBER AND EXTENDING AT AN ANGLE TO SAID CLOSED POSITION OF SAID COVER MEMBER; AND AN EXTENSIBLE MEMBER HAVING A FIRST END PIVOTALLY COUPLED TO SAID ARM MEMBER AND HAVING ITS OTHER END PIVOTALLY COUPLED TO SAID COVER MEMBER AT POINTS SPACED FROM SAID SPINDLE WHEREBY, UPON EXTENDING SAID EXTENSIBLE MEMBER, SAID COVER WILL BE RAISED. 